Sonic Cinema

Sounds, Visions and Insights by Brian Skutle

Happy Winter Solstice (Short)

Grade : B Year : 2014 Director : Matthew Rosvally Running Time : 5min Genre : , ,
Movie review score
B

“Happy Winter Solstice” tells the story of a man (Ron Thompson) who is hanging Christmas decorations before he goes to sleep in his apartment. He looks at a drawing his child drew him, and gets a gun out. He tucks himself in, and goes to bed. On the soundtrack, we hear a poem recited about Jack Frost coming to get you when you least expect it. Is this what the man is preparing for with getting a gun out? The last shot certainly suggests as much. Written and directed by Matthew Rosvally, “Happy Winter Solstice” is a simple horror scene intended to inspire dread. I don’t know if I would go that far, but it is an effective piece of mood filmmaking, with all the aspects going to point at dark things taking place. It does that much, although with a little more time, maybe it could do more. As it is, it’s just an interesting exercise in simple scene construction.

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